e-Pharmalink is the e-mail newsletter of the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN) an independent, apolitical, non-profit Christian organization. This newsletter aims to alert pharmacists and other health professionals of information sources about international trends relevant to their work and opportunities that could support them in their efforts to provide effective and efficient services, particularly in poorer countries. It summarizes information reported by a wide range of publications or organizations and includes web links to the original sources. Anyone can receive this e-mail. If you have any information to contribute or comments on the content, or if you would like to unsubscribe, subscribe or recommend someone to receive it, please contact Info@epnetwork.org.
This edition includes:
EFFORTS TO REDUCE THE COST OF ARVS
Cheaper AIDS Drugs For South Africa
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), with a number of southern African organisations, has entered into settlement agreements with pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) regarding their licensing of local production and distribution of ARVs in sub-Saharan Africa. This will mean that the Clinton Foundation deal (see below) can be implemented immediately.
http://www.tac.org.za/newsletter/2003/ns10_12_2003.htm
Clinton Foundation Sets Price Benchmark
According to the Wall Street Journal this year, the Clinton Foundation has reached agreement with five manufacturers of CD4 cell count and viral load tests. Under the deal, to be implemented immediately in South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Rwanda, and several Caribbean states, the cost of a CD4 cell count will fall from US$11-12 to US$3-5.
http://www.aidsmap.com/news/newsdisplay2.asp?newsId=2502
The Clinton Foundation agreement with drug manufacturers on a major reduction in the price of AIDS medicine can now move forward, as licenses can be granted to the manufacturers (see above). The agreement covers antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) delivered to people where the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative operates.
http://www.clintonpresidentialcenter.com/drug_announcement.html
Brazil Gets 75% Discount On HIV Drug
The Brazilian government has negotiated a 75% discount on the top US price of the new protease inhibitor atazanavir (Reyataz). Brazil will pay $3.25 per capsule for the drug, compared with a US price of up to $13.80 per capsule. This represents a daily price of $6.50 a day. A drawback of atazanavir is its negative interaction with the TB drug rifampicin. Until now, a major obstacle to its use has been its price.
http://www.aidsmap.com/news/newsdisplay2.asp?newsId=2418
New Initiative To Cut The Cost Of ARVs In India
The Indian government plans to provide anti-AIDS drugs to HIV/AIDS patients at reduced prices in six states, which account for more than 80% of all reported cases of AIDS in the country. The government aims to implement this by 1st April 2004. Four pharmaceutical companies - Cipla, Ranbaxy, Matrix, and Hetero - have agreed to supply the ARVs. The exact price has not been agreed upon yet, but it is expected to be slightly lower than that offered to the Clinton Foundation.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=20040116003110600.htm&date=fl2101/&prd=fline&
Nigerian Government Receives N5 Million Worth Of ARVs
The federal government of Nigeria has received a donation of ARV drugs worth N5 million from Ranbaxy Nigeria Limited. Health Minister, Professor Eyitayo Lambo, remarked that the federal government was very committed to ensuring that ARV drugs were available to people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. He said that the federal government was positioned to receive funds from the Global Fund for an additional 4,600 PLWAs and that Nigeria was exploring the possibility of local manufacture of both ARV drugs and test kits.
http://www.businessfightsaids.org/news_read.asp?sct=3&ID=9193
IMPROVED DELIVERY OF ARV TREATMENT
WHO Tackles ARV Delivery In Resource-Poor Settings
The WHO has published a detailed review of experience in delivering ARV therapy (ART) in resource-limited settings. The guide, produced by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) Health Systems Resource Centre, aims to increase understanding of the requirements for introducing and scaling up provision of ART.
http://www.who.int/3by5/publications/documents/dfid/en/
New List Of Approved AIDS And TB Medicines
The Quality Assurance and Safety of Medicines unit at WHO manages the prequalification project of HIV/AIDS products and manufacturers. Their latest report includes recently prequalified generics for AIDS.
http://mednet3.who.int/prequal/hiv/hiv-suppliers.doc
Free AIDS Treatment Begins In Ethiopia
MSF and Tigray Regional Health Bureau have launched the first programme of free treatment with ARVs in Ethiopia.
http://www.msf.org/countries/page.cfm?articleid=F285D9FD-4F62-4E4F-B50D90C2DBE57AAE
FAKE DRUGS WATCH
Cheap And Dangerous Fraud In Asia
The spread of counterfeit drugs continues to raise concern. An E-drug mailing list report of a letter to the Lancet highlights recently discovered evidence of a simple yet effective method of fraud encountered in southeast Asia: tampering with expiry dates on drug packaging. Pharmacists, nurses, and physicians should be vigilant.
http://www.essentialdrugs.org/edrug/archive/200401/msg00015.php
Nigeria Fights Fake Drugs
Another E-drug correspondent has written an article on the efforts that the Nigerian government’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) are making to tackle the problem of fake drugs in the country.
http://www.essentialdrugs.org/edrug/archive/200401/msg00005.php
AIDS + TB + MALARIA
New Round For Global Fund
In January the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria launched Round 4 of its grant application procedure, and has issued new documents to assist grant applicants and recipients.
www.theglobalfund.org/en/apply/call
There is also a new free directory of technical expertise from Aidspan, ‘The Aidspan Guide to Obtaining Global Fund Technical Assistance’, aimed at any country or organisation considering making an application to the Fund.
http://www.aidspan.org/guides/
HIV/AIDS “Knowledge Hub” In Ukraine
The World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Euro) and the American International Health Alliance (AIHA) have joined forces to create an HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care Knowledge Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It will be based in Ukraine, at the Kyiv Medical Academy of Post Graduate Education, and closely affiliated with the Ukrainian National AIDS Centre.
http://www.aiha.com/index.jsp?sid=1&id=8741&pid=4699
Multi-Drug Resistant TB: Botswana Experience
There is an increasing rate of resistance to TB drugs in patients in Botswana. This may be the result of premature treatment discontinuation due to inadequate counselling and a widespread belief in Botswana that TB is not fatal.
http://www.aidsmap.com/news/newsdisplay2.asp?newsId=2496
TB Control In Moldova
The AIHA has also launched a new “Program for Strengthening Tuberculosis Control in Moldova.” Supported by USAID, the four year project aims to combat TB in Moldova by fortifying the country’s network of TB laboratories, ameliorating the nation’s ability to deal with TB at the primary care level, improving surveillance capacity to track TB and the spread of multi-drug resistant strains, and increasing public awareness about the disease.
http://www.aiha.com/index.jsp?sid=1&id=8728&pid=4699
MSF Highlights Malaria Death Rate
MSF has included the continuing high toll of malaria in its Top Ten Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2003. MSF claims that artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) can cost as little as $1 per treatment, and could be less if it were introduced more widely. Still, says the organisation, international donors and governments continue to offer dying patients medicines they know do not work.
http://www.msf.org/content/page.cfm?articleid=1B88BC5C-ABF3-4CAD-8C028C9ED2C2EE98
RESOURCES
New Resources For AIDS Caregivers
Healthlink Worldwide has launched the AIDS Action CD-ROM and website providing a fully searchable resource with hundreds of practical articles and case studies available in html and pdf formats, or available by email as text or html. Developed for health and community workers who work with resource-poor communities around the world, it should be a useful tool for people who have limited access to other sources of information.
http://www.healthlink.org.uk/about/news03.html
RESOURCE FOCUS: AIDSMAP
This month we look at the AIDSMAP ‘HATIP’ newsletter and information services of NAM, both of which we use in selecting content for E‑Pharmalink.
‘HIV & AIDS Treatment in Practice’ is an email newsletter for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers in resource-limited settings. The newsletter is published twice a month by NAM, the UK-based HIV information charity behind the award-winning website http://www.aidsmap.com./
Their goal is to consider how appropriate and effective treatment, including but not limited to ARVs, can become a reality for all who need it. Each issue reviews one major topic in HIV/AIDS treatment, for example fixed-dose ARV combinations, implementing co-trimoxazole prophylaxis, or treating active TB while giving ARVs at the same time.
Each newsletter contains information and specialist comment from doctors with expertise in delivering ARVs and AIDS treatment in resource-limited settings. All articles are medically reviewed to ensure accuracy, balance, and relevance and the newsletter is NOT sponsored by any pharmaceutical company.
You can also order further articles, providing more detail and supplementary information, to be sent to you by email. To subscribe, send an email with your name, email address, and the country in which you work to: hatip@nam.org.uk with the words “add HATIP list” in the ‘subject’ line, or else go to http://www.aidsmap.com/main/hatip.asp.
NAM also produces information on treatments in book form and as a searchable database on the website, as well as an international resource database, searchable in six languages. For further information on NAM, email info@nam.org.uk
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